


Birthday Wish

by starwhims



Category: One Piece
Genre: Drabble, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22104232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starwhims/pseuds/starwhims
Summary: Sanji makes a cake for Ace's birthday post time skip.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 4
Kudos: 112





	Birthday Wish

**Author's Note:**

> just a short drabble. self beta'd.

Mixing the batter Sanji’s thoughts wandered to his captain he was making the cake for. It was Ace’s birthday today. The first time it had occurred since they got back together at Sabaody. At first Sanji wasn’t sure how Luffy was going to feel about it. Would he even want it brought up? Would he even remember? Luffy wasn’t one for dates and times and frequently forgot his own birthday, and it had been two years. 

Sanji was taking a risk here, making a cake for Ace. It could just make Luffy upset or angry, but still, it would be worth it if he liked it. Remembering from when they met up with Ace in Alabasta that he liked chocolate with chili powder, Sanji decided to make a chocolate sheet cake with cream cheese chili frosting. The batter was simple to make, it was the frosting that was going to take some trial and error. 

Once he was done with the cake and had decorated it with candles (twenty three of them since that’s how old Ace would have been this year) and a couple decorative chilis, Sanji wandered up to deck of the Sunny to find Luffy. He hadn’t told anyone what he was doing and he didn’t want anyone to see it besides Luffy.  
It was a special moment and he didn’t want anyone to ruin it. Usopp and Chopper were on the deck chasing each other around. 

“Usopp! Chopper! Have either of you seen Luffy around?” Sanji shouted at them. 

“He’s still asleep.” Usopp called back as the both stopped running and took a second to catch their breaths. Still Asleep? Sanji checked his watch and it was already eleven AM. Luffy usually was up by now, and harassing him for lunch already. After heading to the men’s quarters Sanji knocked on the door lightly, but there was no answer. 

He opened the door and peeked inside. Luffy was standing near the window, half dressed, his hat on the post of the bunk bed. He looked kind of sad, Sanji thought. Usually he was radiating with pent up energy when he woke up, but he was just standing there looking out the porthole at the passing waves. 

"Luffy?” Sanji said, entering the room. Luffy’s body bopped a little as he turned to see Sanji. The sun was on his hair and brought out the brunette highlights in his black hair that had come from years of being in the sun almost all the time. Mid morning light bounced off his tan skin and made it look warmer than it did normally. When he realized who had entered, Luffy smiled so wide his eyes squinted. 

“Sanji!!” he snickered. “Is lunch ready yet?” 

“I haven’t started on it.” Luffy’s smile turned into a pout. “I have something special for you though if you’ll come with me to the kitchen.” 

“Is it meat?!” Luffy exclaimed, his limbs extending a little bit past the normal threshold of a human’s as he did. 

“No, it’s better.” 

"Well I don’t know what could be better than meat, but okay,” he said, stretching to grab his shirt and hat. Following Luffy down the hall to the kitchen, Sanji began to get anxious. Sharing something he had baked always brought on feelings like this. It was silly because he knew his baking stuff, but baking while tedious required him to put more of himself into it. It was all about precision yes, but it was also some kind of soul baring display. Sharing something he cooked versus sharing something he baked was like delivering a speech at a seminar and slam poetry. Especially when it was something like this, something so personal for Luffy.  


When they got to the kitchen, Luffy went to open the door, but Sanji stopped him. 

“Wait. Let me do something first.”

Luffy smiled cheekily and stepped aside. 

Sanji stepped past him and shifted through his pockets to find his lighter. Carefully, he lit all twenty three of the candles, his hands shaking a bit from the nerves and realizing he hadn’t had a cigarette since he woke up. 

“Okay, you can come in!” he called to his captain outside the door. Sanji studied Luffy’s face carefully as he came in and looked at the cake. At first he looked excited, probably just because it was cake and Luffy loved cake. Eventually though, when he read the “Happy Birthday Ace” in curly icing script, the smile faltered. He didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“I remembered Ace really liked chocolate and chili powder, so it’s - it’s chocolate cake with cream cheese chili pepper icing,” he managed to say, rubbing the back of his head. 

“You made a cake for Ace’s birthday?” Luffy said, looking up at Sanji a few tears brimming in the corners of his eyes.

“Y-yeah.” The next thing Sanji knew rubber limbs were tangled around him in knots and Luffy’s face was on his chest. His hugs are always so warm, Sanji thought as he lifted his arm to return the hug. 

“I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t think anyone remembered.” It sounded like he was crying now and in turn Sanji could feel his own eyes pricking with tears. 

“Stop. If you cry, I’ll cry and it’ll be a whole thing.” 

“I can’t help it!” Luffy cried. “Sanji’s so nice.” 

Wrapped in his gangly limbs, Sanji idly thought that he could live in the feeling Luffy exuded. A bright and fierce love of life. He had spent a long time hating life, wishing he could escape it. Luffy had made him realize that it was okay to go after what you wanted, it was okay to have dreams. He owed a lot to Luffy, they all did. 

“C’mon,” Sanji said, patting the other man’s back before his arm went numb. “Let’s eat this cake.”

**Author's Note:**

> i was gonna post this on ace's birthday but unsurprisingly i forgot.


End file.
